Sylva Akl

For 3 years, I embraced the role of a full-time parent, fostering a loving and supportive environment for my family. This invaluable experience honed my organizational skills, patience, adaptability, and resilience—qualities that will undoubtedly prove instrumental in any professional setting.

Key Skills and Attributes:

• Effective Time Management: Balancing the diverse needs of multiple children while managing household responsibilities honed my ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines efficiently.
• Multitasking: Juggling various household duties, child care, and family commitments showcased my capacity to handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously.
• Strong Communication: Constantly engaging with children, teachers, and other parents improved my communication and interpersonal skills.
• Problem Solving: Addressing challenges and finding creative solutions during parenthood fostered my ability to think critically and resolve issues effectively.
• Adaptability: Navigating the ever-changing dynamics of parenthood equipped me with adaptability and flexibility in handling various situations.
• Emotional Intelligence: Recognizing and empathizing with the emotions of family members heightened my emotional intelligence and capacity for empathy.
• Organization and Planning: Managing schedules, appointments, and family activities developed my organizational and planning capabilities.

• Ensured, coordinated and managed quality and successful implementation of variety of projects implemented in education sector in Lebanon, Erbil and Syria for Syria Crisis Response.
• Responsible for reporting, cross departmental coordination, financial accountability, external stakeholder engagement, including engagement with program partners, relevant government authorities, (I)NGOs, Caritas network, clusters, UN institutions and coordination bodies as well as embassies, necessary for implementation of activities in Lebanon.
• Represented Caritas Switzerland towards partner organizations and donors.
• Supported Program Manager in the implementation of Caritas Switzerland education portfolio.

• Acted as a vocal and visible champion, legitimize project's goals and objectives, keep abreast of major project activities, and decision-maker for project.
• Planned and scheduled projects, it's timelines and execution strategies.
• Followed up on donor requests, support needed, and transparent progress and financial reporting on monthly and quarterly basis or as agreed with donor.
• Identified issues, analyzed information and provided solutions to problems.
• Participated in team projects, demonstrating ability to work collaboratively and effectively.

• Managed and supervised administrative and daily program operations, complying with policies and regulations.
• Identified program obstacles and communicated possible impacts to team.
• Responsible for coordination, implementation, execution, control, and completion of four different projects related to women and youth empowerment, ensuring consistency with CSO strategy, commitments and goals.
• Developed and maintained logistics workflows, procedures and reports.

• Responsible for directing and managing US Embassy's largest Public Diplomacy project in Lebanon “Teach Women English”.
• Defined project scope, goals and deliverables that support program goals in collaboration with senior management and stakeholders.
• Build, develop, and grow any partnership relationships vital to the success of the project.
• Drafted and submitted project progress and financial reports to identify successful outcomes, insights and future recommendations.
• Developed and implemented project plans and budgets to ensure successful execution.

• Responsible for management of campaign for Lebanese parliamentary elections.
• Provided leadership and direction for lead staff and set effective agenda to ensure achievement of performance goals.
• Phasing and scheduling of projects, including special projects regarding program activities.
• Assisted with documentation of best practices for project procedures and policies.